Trophic status of a coastal lagoon-marine harbor system: Potential outwelling rates to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef southern region

Eutrophication is still a serious problem in many coastal areas, including the tropics, where river discharges of nutrients is usually high. The ecological stability and ecosystem services of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS), the world's second-largest coral reef system, suffer a generalized impact by riverine discharge of sediment and organic and inorganic nutrients, which may lead to coastal eutrophication and a coral-macroalgal phase shift. However, few data exist on the MRBS coastal zone status, particularly in Honduras. Here, two in situ sampling campaigns were carried out (May 2017 and January 2018) in the Alvarado Lagoon and Puerto Cortes Bay (Honduras). Measurements included water column nutrients, chlorophyll-a (Chla), particulate organic and inorganic matter and net community metabolism, completed with satellite images analysis. The lagoon and bay environments are ecologically different systems and present different sensitivities to seasonal changes in precipitation as shown by the multivariate analysis. Nonetheless, net community production and respiration rates were neither different spatially, nor seasonally. In addition, both environments were highly eutrophic as shown by the TRIX index. Thus, the Puerto Cortes system represents an important source of dissolved nutrients and particulate matter to the coastal zone. Even though offshore, water quality, based on estimated outwelling rates from the Puerto Cortes system to the coastal waters of the southern MRBS region, improved considerably, concentrations of Chla and nutrients remained higher than those typically measured in non-polluted coral reefs in the Caribbean region and the suggested threshold values. In situ monitoring and assessment of these aspects are crucial to evaluate the ecological functioning of and threats on the MBRS, and elaborate and implement adequate policies for integrated management given its regional and global importance.